The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s involvement in Mr Z’s social care. There is not a good reason for the delay in the matter being brought to us.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about how the Council handled her adult stepson’s (Mr Y’s) social care in 2023 and earlier. Her concerns included delays in it responding to safeguarding concerns, failure to refer Mr Y for advocacy and emotional support, lack of capacity assessments and insufficient support for her as a carer. Mrs X said the matter caused distress for both her and Mr Y, financial detriment and inconvenience. She wanted the Council to apologise, make service improvements and pay compensation to recognise the financial impact.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X complained to the Council in December 2023 about its consideration of safeguarding concerns relating to Mr Y. The Council issued a response in February 2024. Mrs X escalated her complaint in March 2024. The Council issued a final response to Mrs X in May 2024. This signposted Mrs X to the Ombudsman. Mrs X complained to us in March 2025.
The law says people must bring complaints to us within 12 months of finding out about the matter. The matters Mrs X complains about occurred in late 2023 and she was aware of the Council’s involvement at that time. The 12 months began in December 2023 at the latest, when Mrs X had sufficient concern to complain.
Parts of Mrs X’s complaint are about historical matters going back to 2016, of which she knew at the time. We will not investigate those parts of the complaint as Mrs X could have complained about those matters at the time and in any event, we could not carry out a fair investigation now due to the time that has passed.
I have considered the timescales involved in Mrs X bringing complaints about the Council’s involvement of late 2023, when it was investigating a safeguarding referral. Five months elapsed while the matter was progressing through the Council’s complaint process. However, after the Council issued a final complaint response, a further ten months passed before Mrs X brought the matter to the Ombudsman.
Mrs X has explained the impact the matters have allegedly had on her health. I have taken her health into account when considering the timescales involved in her complaining to us, however this does not explain the entire ten month period between Mrs X receiving the Council’s final complaint response and contacting us. Mrs X’s health had not prevented her from raising her complaint with the Council.
It is also clear Mrs X spent significant time gathering information and writing detailed complaint points before bringing the matter to us. Mrs X could have registered her complaint with us in May 2024. We could then have obtained the information we required to investigate the complaint. There is not a good reason for the delay in the matter being brought to us and we will therefore not investigate the matter now.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay in the matter being brought to the Ombudsman.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman